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Short takes: Cafes closing, but vigilance needed

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Wednesday October 9, 2013 5:33 AM

The lights are going out at Internet cafes.

Now that these neighborhood cash sinkholes have lost their ability to lure suckers with the
promise of big payouts, they’re leaving.

That’s a blessing for those neighborhoods and for the families that no longer will see paychecks
squandered in unauthorized low-rent, store-front gambling.

House Bill 7, which limits prize payouts to $10 and allows payoffs via check, took effect at
12:01 a.m. Thursday, and some of the biggest software companies profiting from Ohioans’ losses,
including Pong Marketing and Promotions out of Ontario, Canada, immediately closed shop and
terminated their contracts with Ohio customers.

At least Pong officials can say they left voluntarily; V2 Worldwide Communication, a provider to
45 cafes in the state, agreed to stop doing business in Ohio as part of a plea deal in an
illegal-gambling case brought against the company by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy
McGinty.

Attorney General Mike DeWine and others have spoken repeatedly of cafes acting as fronts for
money-laundering and other illegal activity. They also are a venue of choice for gambling
addicts.

The Internet-gambling industry tried to put a referendum on the ballot to overturn the law, but
Ohioans apparently weren’t especially receptive to their arguments. Paid signature-gatherers fell
far short of the 231,148 valid signatures needed to proceed with a vote.

It’s a victory for quality of life in Ohio. But illegal-gambling interests are persistent; as
soon as one form is shut down, another tends to pop up. In Lake County’s Willoughby Hills, a
business running electronic poker games pulled the plug last month, after DeWine’s office issued an
opinion that the games are slot machines, not permitted outside the state’s four authorized casinos
and seven racinos.

That probably won’t end attempts to sneak new forms of gambling under the radar. Law-enforcement
officials should be on the lookout for the next dodge.

Young programmers use their powers for good

Everyone knows the mischief a sharp young computer whiz can get into.

But an innovative event sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Saturday gave about 70
promising tech majors from 11 colleges the chance to learn — and show — something about how those
skills can be used to create something that actually makes the world better.

In the “Code for Good” challenge, teams of students were assigned to work on one of two charity
projects: an app for Columbus Goodwill that would encourage Goodwill’s employees to make healthy
choices, and one for HandsOn Central Ohio that would help people easily find opportunities to
volunteer in the community.

For the students, it was a chance to work with and be judged by industry pros who work for
Chase.

One student said, “I feel like I’ve learned more in the last 24 hours than in a semester of
class.”

Not coincidentally, for Chase, it was a chance to evaluate potential future employees up close
and hard at work.

Students participating in the challenge provided only a start for the apps; Chase’s technology
team will take those ideas and complete them.